I remember when I was younger, my mom used to have her friend's mom (who was Japanese) look after me when she went to work or school. She was a nice woman, lived in a good neighborhood and had plenty of stories to tell. I liked going over there...except for one thing.

I was not a very tall child and the first thing you see when you enter her house is a very tall, VERY frightening, laughing Buddha statue. When I first entered her house, I had my back to the rest of the house; and when I turned around, I was taken aback and just froze in my place. I was a little scared of it, but also very fascinated by it. I guess it was the beginning of my interest in Buddhism and of eastern religion in general.

I can't remember when i came in touch with Buddha for the first time.But when I read the book from Thich Nath Hanh "Old path white clouds: Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha" (in German: "Wie Siddhartha zum Buddha wurde") i felt like knowing him like a very good friend.When he died in the book he said to Ananda "Don't cry" - but i could understand Ananda best. I had to cry long time and felt like an real near friend has faded away.

I first saw Buddhas in movies when I was 7 or 8. There was actually a Tarzan movie that dealt with reincarnate Buddhist masters in the form of a young boy that I saw (literally no one else in my neighborhood [which was then part of Ramstein Airbase] liked this movie). Later when I was 10-11, I was somehow left alone in my Great Aunts/Uncles huge house in Asheville, NC. I was watching TV and the great movie "Harp of Burma" came on. I was quite absorbed with the notion expressed by the Burmese monk of "Buddha's Land" and Buddha. So that was the beginning.

I recall seeing a cinema Chinese movie back in the end of the 70s or early 80s with my family when I was very young though my memory doesn't recall the movie title but until today I still have a scene where it shows a man falling off a mountain cliff but managed to catch on a tree root or vine and he calls out to the Buddha and lo and behold a golden Buddha comes down from the sky like a huge figure dwarfing everything else and stops just above the cliff and extends out a golden thread for the man to lift him up.... And at that age, I asked my Christian mom in amazement, 'Wah Mommy, can Buddha do that?' She was like